EKLIPZ
by Hoshigaki Imogi
Summary: If you really want to know, then read.  But, everything takes place 50mil. yrs from now.  The story is mainly aobut alchemy and such like that.  It's a fantasyadventuretype story, which Im writing into a novel.  Everything in this book is totally originl
1. Prologue

_**E K L I P Z**_4

**A Prologue of Sorts . . .**

There was first pre-history. Dinosaurs ruled the earth, land, sky, and sea. The meteor struck and most all was lost. The earth's axis was slightly tilted and chaos controlled the climate. Soon though, mammals rose to the occasion while new species of reptile, bird, and fish evolved. Intelligence began to grow within the mammals and there came a new breed of animal. Time went on. More new species inhabited the blue planet. Then, eventually, there came the B.C. (Before Christ). Humans, earth's most intelligent of creatures, waged war over territory and religion as the gods watched in horror. Land was taken from its peoples and, at times, all seemed lost. With the new era, A.D. (After Death), came more war, more loss, and new technologic wonders. The humans began to destroy the earth, bit by bit, piece by piece, without so much as a care from most. The gods were getting angry.

The earth began to rise in temperature and the humans didn't _truly_ fear for the worst. Millennia more, the humans' machines started to become smarter than they were. R.O.M. (Rise of Machines) was what this new era was called. Machines dominated the humans, and the once intelligent species had to live in hiding. (After Strike) A.S. came with the strike of the meteor. It was the biggest meteor impact in all of earth's history; much bigger than that of the one that consumed the sky in the era of the dinosaurs. It destroyed every machine, almost every species of animal, including those in the ocean, and nearly wiped out the human race altogether. Having lived in the undergrounds of the earth, away from the machines, the humans were ironically 'saved'. The humans soon came out of hiding, but radiation from the meteor caused disease and disfiguration. What little food or water the humans could find was usually tainted. Water sprayed down from the heavens in an acidic form. The human population that was already so little dwindled even more, until it reached below the thousands. But somehow, the humans found a way to live. Knowing of past history and the legends passed down to them from their few remaining ancestors, humans no longer wanted to rely on machines, and so they soon went to the old way of life. Many humans experimented in the arts of alchemy to better their lives without the use of machines. The humans had begun to think that the meteor was sent down by the gods to destroy them for not believing in them anymore. The meteor also brought great wonders. The animals that did survive the mass extinction adapted extremely well, as they had no choice. Along with these new species came very strange, unearthly-looking creatures. The meteor contained some water and small microbial bacterium that somehow also managed to survive the crash to earth. By the time the meteor had hit, continents had moved thousands of miles in different directions. Africa joined Europe, closing the Mediterranean completely. Australia and its neighboring islands were much closer to Asia, which had rotated clockwise. North and South America are disfigured and slightly rotated counter-clockwise. The meteor literally left an imprint on the earth; right in the middle of what would today be the Atlantic.

The earth's orbit around the sun had also slowed by this time; so much so that a season lasted 350 days. It took 1400 days to get all the way around the sun. The moon was far from earth, hardly even visible. The orbit of sun had caught it, now making it its own planet. But we had stolen one of Mars' moons long before the meteor strike. Mars itself had been flung out of orbit because of this, and it was soon destroyed after a strike with the asteroid belt between it and Jupiter. Over many more millennia, Mars soon became invisible to everyone. It had crumbled and spread out into the asteroid belt, leaving Martian dust throughout the region. Mercury was still as close to hell as one could get, but Venus had evolved. Though no animals inhabited the planet, lush, dense forests did cover it. Jupiter had grown in size slightly due to the ruin of Mars. And all was forgot about the planets beyond that of Uranus, which had also grown in size for some other unknown reason.

The humans celebrated the strangeness of their solar system and the vastness of the universe. The gods themselves finally came down from the heavens to live on the earth. They hid themselves everywhere, without the humans knowing they were watching. The world of the demons was opened as well as that of light and dark.

And now, A.S. 301000 (more commonly known as A.S. 301-0), the beginning of both a new century and millennia, people are still going through hard times. It is the Year of Autumn, and the people must prepare for next year's winter, which will be harsh and forbidding.

Seth Fuhrmann


	2. Chapter1: Long Road Ahead

_E K L I P Z_15

**Chapter I Long Road Ahead**

He could sense that someone was coming. Derek made a fist and punched it into the ground. The soil was soft. It was too soft to tell him what he needed. He looked up to the light-blue sky to clear his thoughts. It was early in the morning and the moon was still barely visible, it would be full in about a week's time. The moon always helped him think, and he needed to think fast; he didn't want any of the Marinas trailing him, especially during the day, when he was most susceptible.

If the soil had only been harder, the rock fragments would be closer together, allowing him to feel more vibration throughout the ground. With that, he'd be able to tell a person's height, weight, and even possibly motives just by analyzing the way they were walking. This could have possibly even told him gender. But, this soft soil couldn't help him any. Derek _could_ tell, though, that whoever was following him was walking very slowly, probably trying to keep their distance. These slow steps were followed by long pauses. They had to be about a mile and a half away. Derek was quite surprised that Lieutenant Cyurby would only send one person after him; they had to be a bounty hunter or someone extremely strong.

When whoever was following him got to be about a mile away, Derek took his hand out of the ground and pressed on. He continued walking at a fast pace, trying to keep a good two miles between him and his follower. If this person was a bounty hunter, they sure were taking their sweet time. Derek stopped again and shoved his hand into the ground again, expecting the dirt to be soft once more, but he was wrong. '_Finally some hard, clay-based ground_,' he thought to himself. He stuck his hand farther down until it was elbow-deep, his knees on the ground. The person was still taking slow steps, with the occasional pause. He could tell that, by the way they were walking, they were most likely male. He guessed that they were a few inches less than six feet, and had an average or medium weight.

His follower stopped again and stood completely still. Suddenly he became extremely heavy and then . . .weighed nothing at all! He had vanished! It was impossible! Where and how could he have suddenly disappeared? And why had he become so heavy? It didn't make sense to him at first. He was completely surprised. This was no ordinary bounty hunter, much less any normal person. Surely, Cyurby had sent this one.

Derek pulled his arm back out of the ground and quickly jumped into a nearby tree. He took his blue cloak off and turned it inside out, making it a green-and-brown-splotched color. Throwing the cloak back on now, he could somewhat blend into the tree. He then waited patiently for something to happen, hand on sword's hilt. He had the sudden instinct that something was very awry. He also felt impatient and became displeased with himself for grabbing the handle of his weapon.

'_Why am I even thinking of pulling out this blade? It is _much_ too powerful to use when I've only just _received_ it, and of everything I could possibly do to attract the attention of the Marinas, this would by far be a big mistake . . .The SPOT have been on my case since before I was even released . . .That's why I'm in this whole conundrum,' he_ silently thought to himself.

After a few minutes of waiting in the tree, he felt a tingling sensation down his spine, and he no longer felt safe. He took off his small, black and red backpack and hung it on a high tree branch. Then, he took the cloak and draped it over the bag, carefully making sure none of the blue was showing through the leaves. That bag held his very life. He'd needed to keep it safe, even if no one could open it but him . . . Lifting up his long, silken sleeves, he grabbed each of his arms with its opposite and felt the tiny, metal studs on his left forearm. He then muttered a 'spell' and he began to . . .liquefy.

When he had completely become his cool-blue self, he slowly slipped down the tree's trunk. Even though Derek was now a puddle, he could still see, hear, smell, feel, and even slightly taste his surroundings. He had done this so many times that he'd grown accustomed to certain tastes like _tree_, _dirt, and cement. _Being a puddle of water is like having an out-of-body experience. He could feel his legs moving, even though he now had none, and he could manipulate his 'body' all he wanted, stretching awkwardly into cracks and crevices.

Upon sliding down the tree's thick trunk, an oval-shaped disk of black appeared on the ground in the middle of the road as if from nowhere, edges shining a deep-violet color. Someone's head rose out of the disk and so Derek speedily slipped behind the tree. It was a man, most likely not much older than he was, with long and thick, sleek, grey hair and light gray, unshaved cheeks. He slowly lowered his head back down and the disk disappeared. Derek was stunned at first.

The disc reappeared, only it was now vertical. The man jumped out quickly, and the disc began to fade. Derek pushed a bit of his liquid-self out from the tree to see more of the man. Just before the disc closed, he saw a range of mountains and a small plain void of trees, all a gray color; he would've liked to see more, but the disc closed too fast, and he was still a only a puddle of water. The man who jumped out of the disk landed on the ground without so much as a thud and smoothly got up. He wore a lengthy, leathery cloak or coat, which fell down to his ankles. He had black pants and a simple brown shirt with a high collar, no insignia what-so-ever.

He walked a few steps forward and took out a small notebook from the inside of his coat. Only a few steps from the tree Derek was behind, he looked up, then started to write in the notebook with a feather pen. Then, the man turned to look in his direction and Derek started to feel nervous. Something about the man made him feel extremely uncomfortable. He was, of course, positive that he could take him on if he absolutely had to, but he didn't really know who he was . . . or at least he wasn't sure. The man did look a bit familiar . . .

The man bent down and looked right at Derek again, eyes shaded by dark, rimmed glasses. If this person was who Derek thought he was, then he was in deep trouble. In this puddle state, there wasn't much the man could do to him, but it still wasn't a safe state to be in either.

The man then scooped up some soil _right _next to him and rubbed it in-between his fingers. _Phew _Derek thought to himself again. Then he started to write in his little notebook once more. Derek positioned himself upward while the man was turned around to see exactly what was in that book of his. Drawings of plants and local fauna, along with tiny, chicken-scratch writings filled the pages. But there was no way he was just some nature boy; he definitely didn't look the part! But of course, Derek shouldn't be one to judge so quickly. One might think he was about as strong as a loaf of bread upon first look, and he was much more powerful, though he could really care less about what others thought.

Once more, the man closed the notebook. He turned around, focusing his gaze on the huge Meoaka tree that was now behind Derek.

Derek had to stay where he was, and . . .hopefully . . .the man wouldn't notice that he'd changed position. Eyes still completely drawn to the tree, he squatted down before the tree. He then raised his hand to it, caressing the hard, ridged sheathes of the tree. It was all quite strange watching from a 'worm's eyes' point-of-view. Once more, he reopened that stupid book and wrote something down. Afterwards, he finally stood up and started to walk away.

Derek was incredibly relieved; the man was leaving the area! But just as he was in this exuberant state of mind, the man turned around, swiftly spiraling his body in the air, throwing his book to the side, as he hurdled two small, black spheres in his direction. As fast as he possibly could, Derek soaked himself into the ground, just as the spheres hit the tree, which literally shattered, leaving only a small, jagged stump. With millions of sharp, tiny wood chips in the air, he was glad he was 'safe' underground. But if that man did that to the tree, he could only imagined what he could do to _someone_, say . . .him.

Derek ran himself into the ground a few feet deeper. Then, he rematerialized back into human form. He pushed through the soil, stopping to sense where his new enemy was. He couldn't feel any movement above. The man had to have been in a tree or somewhere else close by. Derek slowly crouched, still somewhat deep underground, bracing himself for action. Then he waited for any movement. There was a quick tap on the ground followed by a quick, but smaller one. He assumed it could only be a rock. The second tap had to be it bouncing. Perhaps a decoy . . .not a smart choice. Calculations ran through his brain. He could solve just about anything, if you gave him the time. Evaluating and assessing his environment or situation were his strong suits. No one was better at that than he was. _If the rock bounced . . . with that speed . . . direction was . . . I know just where you are . . . _he thought to himself, laughing a bit on the inside.

Bracing his body once more, he sprang up, right arm bursting forth from the ground first. Flinging his head and other arm upwards, he forcefully pulled most of his upper body up out of the dirt. He found that his foe was exactly where he thought he was: simply on a branch, in a tree.

"That's a nice little trick you can do," the man said in a low, gruff voice. He was crouching on a high tree branch. There were still wood chunks in every possible direction.

He pushed himself out of the ground even more, until only that which was below his waist was still buried in the earth. Dirt fell from every inch of his body, and he could feel some softer silt falling from his hair.

"Muse, right?" Derek asked, coughing out a bit of dirt that he hadn't even realized got into his mouth in the first place. The man's expression turned from that of nothing to very angry. "You are Adam Muse, no?" Derek asked a second time.

His left eye twitched a bit, and he started to crouch even lower on the tree. "Damn bounty hunters!" he screamed as he lunged into the air.

Quickly clapping his hands together, Derek's body began to speedily rotate itself back into the ground as the man fell towards him. Back in the sanctity of deep-underground, thoughts rushed through his head once more. Tactics, past events, anything that would possibly help, all pulsed through his skull. There were so many things he could do, if only he had more energy. Trekking the past couple of weeks through the forest with hardly any food or water and little shelter was seriously taking a toll on his body. He was glad he decided to rest the day before, rather than continue on walking. If it weren't for that, he wouldn't be underground thinking about all of this.

The ground began to shake a tremendous amount. _It has to be those spheres he threw at me earlier, probably some sort of energy . . . _As the ground shook and shook, he tried to search his memory for where he had seen or heard of this guy. _Think! Think! . . . The man above me is probably Adam Muse, notorious murderer. He is renowned for the use of an unknown alchemy, of which most people die from contact alone. Most people who meet him in person usually died in some mysterious way soon after . . . I'm doomed . . . But I'm no ordinary person either . . .If only I had just a bit more energy . . .and maybe enough time to make a summoning circle . . . No, even then that wouldn't do! . . . There's no way to _really_ subdue this guy, though I do have chalk with me . . .wouldn't leave without . . .no no, stupid. You've already told yourself that that's not going to work . . ._

Derek felt he was running out of time to think. Just then, the pounding above his head stopped. Everything was extremely quiet. He started to move but his body ached and his stomach growled. _Great, now I have to deal with that! _

Suddenly, a smooth, black, luminous blade came down just in front of Derek's face. It was very close. Too close for comfort . . . The sword was struck down repetitively, thankfully in the same area, though it was still very close to his face. Derek slowly backed up a bit, at least as much as he could underground. _Either this guy's sword is way long, or he has somehow managed to dig all the way down to me with his explosions . . ._ Derek _was _very deep, too.

He waited for the stabbing to stop, and just as Derek could feel the vibrations of the man's first step, he threw his arm out of the ground again. As soon as he could feel the soft breeze on his arm, Derek grabbed his enemy's legs and he fell with a hard thud. Before the man could get up, Derek quickly got the rest of his body out of the ground.

Derek looked around, and what he saw astonished him. They were now in an extremely deep crater, of which the edges were cracked and fractured. Derek pulled his leg out of the ground and dirt fell from him all over, once again. Most of the trees in the area were gone. Well, either gone or . . .crumbled would be the best word here. _Great! That reminds me. Now I have to look for my bag and cloak after all this is done! Thank the gods that at least the bag is indestructible! _

"You must have some issues . . ."

"Who are you?" the man interrupted Derek.

"Why do you ask?" I said back, nonchalantly.

"How long have you been following me?"

"I was about to ask you the same. Then I realized you were . . ."

He swerved around again and shot two more of his little energy balls at Derek. He quickly dodged them, only narrowly though. "Calm down," Derek said, "I haven't been following you."

"Yeah, I'll calm down! After I kill you, maybe!" he shouted, running in his direction. Derek didn't know what to do just then, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw the hilt of the Oceanus Blade. Derek jumped for it, just in time as the man threw another energy ball. The ground exploded behind him, lifting Derek forward as his fingertips barely slipped over the bottom of the hilt. He turned his body towards the ground and his feet and hands skidded him to a halt. Derek threw himself forward and grabbed the sword, falling forward as his opponent was just getting up off the ground. He must have just fallen again; perhaps from his own explosion. Carefully, while still laying on the ground, Derek drew the blade from its sheath and started to examine it. He hadn't _really _gotten to look at it since when he first stole it from Shnezzia's Ruins, right under her nose, too. Then, he realized where he was and he quickly got up. His opponent was dusting his long coat off, which was powdered in fine dust; his own fault.

"You are really starting to piss me off . . ." his voice trailed off as he started to pull a peculiar blade out of his coat. Only, it wasn't much of a blade. It was only a hilt. From what Derek could see of it, it was a shiny, black color, encrusted with small, opal-colored gems. He held it straight out towards Derek, who was now a good twenty feet away.

"No . . .I won't need to kill you this way," he said putting the hilt back into his coat. "I have no need to kill you in such a cruel fashion . . ."

"What? What are you . . ." Derek started to say when suddenly, the man disappeared in a haze of black. The ground around Derek became very heavy and the man reappeared behind him. He began to put his arms around Derek's neck and chest, but Derek was much too fast. Derek quickly grabbed his arms together, touching the studs on the metal arm again. He melted and the man began to fall forward. Derek slid between his legs and wrapped what would've been an arm around his legs. He fell faster now, trying to put is arms out in front of him. Derek quickly grabbed his hands almost like liquid cuffs, and the man's face hit the hard dirt before his body could.

Derek reformed and slightly hit the back of the man's neck with the butt of his blade's hilt. He laid on the ground, motionless. He didn't stir at all when Derek checked his pulse, which happened to be slowing down from its fast pace. He soon checked again and he had a normal pulse.

Derek was sure the man was who he thought he was, but something in his gut told him that he didn't even use a fraction of the power he knew the man _really_ had. He also had the feeling that he would be meeting him again soon. That was what fate usually did.

Derek began to open the man's coat as to look for any trace of more weapons. All he found on the inside of the right part of his jacket were a few small, skinny vials containing some black liquid, marked with numbers and letters. He looked in the other side and found his long, shiny, black, gem-encrusted hilt. It was held in tight loops against the interior of his coat. The interior of the coat itself held a few secrets. Strange scribbles marked the edges of its many inside-pockets, which contained small pieces of paper. Derek started to reach for the parchments, but hesitated, thinking that the markings might cause some sort of hex or other unwanted, undesirable thing.

Derek wanted to take his hilt, but it was so heavy. He didn't understand how the man could have possibly held it out like he did. Derek closed that part of his coat, almost disappointed, and reexamined the right, inside flap again. He grabbed two flasks marked 1-B-1 and G-4-2-W. _I'm sure you won't miss these . . ._, he humorously thought to himselfDerek checked his pulse once more to make sure he didn't die so easily, but he was still fine. After doing that, he walked up the steep crater his foe had caused.

Then, Derek put his hands together and waited a few seconds, chanting to himself loudly. He hit the ground and all the woodchips in the area jumped into the air, cracking and crumbling quickly into a fine powder. He easily spotted his red and black bag among the white dust, about fifty yards away. Derek raced over to it and slung it on his back. His coat laid just another few feet away, but it was so torn that he decided to leave it where it was.

Once again, Derek started on his way down what was still visible of the road under all the debris. _Just a little while to the next city. I can make it . . ._

Seth Fuhrmann


	3. Chapter2: The Heist

_**E K L I P Z**_16

**Chapter II The Heist**

Derek continued his way down the road for a couple of days, quickening his pace every time he thought he felt the ground get heavier. He continuously checked his surroundings with the help of his earth-based alchemy, just like the days before. Soon, Derek entered a small, dusty-looking town. He wished he had his cloak. He would rather look like another shady guy than be spotted by some random person who just happened to be looking for him. Just as he truly started to enter the town, Derek noticed several wanted posters on the window of a tavern. One had Adam Muse, with quite the notable bounty prize of five million rourjas.

Derek looked down at the wrinkled paper and soon saw that it said "Alive Only" on it. That was strange . . . _Why would they want him alive? _he thought to himself. Derek then looked over many more bounty prizes and soon found his own. Four and a half million rourjas, also "Alive Only." "Well now, I'm almost up there with Muse" Derek chuckled briefly to himself, looking behind him to make sure that no one had heard. He ripped both Muse's and his own 'Wanted' signs off the window and saw that people _were_ in the tavern.

_Should I go in? _he thought to himself. _No, don't want to attract any attention . . . Plus, I don't have any money . . . But . . .I could rob the bank, if there _even_ is one in this tiny town . . ._

Derek walked around the seemingly empty town, his stomach growling. He needed food very soon. Perfect reason to rob a bank. _It's so much easier to rob a bank and pay for your food elsewhere than it is to just steal the food. It's hard to run with large amounts of food! And there are no free refills on food or drink . . ._he thought to himself, starting to get in an excitedly good mood. He didn't really understand why himself, but he had the feeling that this was going to be fun.

Derek walked randomly throughout the town's streets, usually making accidental circles back to the town's square. Eventually, he found a somewhat small building. At its top, in bright golden letters, it read "Bank of Galdina." He paused for a moment and made his decision. Forming into a puddle, Derek quickly evaporated into an almost-invisible vapor cloud and positioned himself over the double doors to the bank. It could've been hours that he would have to wait, but he got lucky. Just a few minutes after evaporating himself, the doors opened. A rich, fat, and pompous-looking woman came strolling out, opening her sun parasol as she did. Derek quickly glided in through the slowly closing doors.

Not many people were actually in the bank. Two tellers, six or maybe seven customers, and one short, bald, burly-looking guard all stood inside. Though the bank looked small from the outside, it had a relatively tall ceiling, so Derek floated on up. For awhile, he lazily glided around the room, looking for anything at all valuable that he could steal without having to actually go to the vault, but he didn't find anything. Making sure no one noticed him, Derek lazily floated on his way to the back of the bank, passing a sign that said 'Employees Only'. Then, he went down a corridor and around a cubicle. Inside the large cubicle were several smaller ones, each with a person writing away on parchment inside. Derek was about to glide on in and see what it was they were writing out, just of pure curiosity, when out of the corner of his eye, he saw a huge, metallic door. In the middle of the door itself was a big wheel-looking object. To the far right of the door were three number-turn security locks. _It's old fashioned_, Derek thought to himself. And it was. None of the air-locked vacuum seals he was used to. It would be easy, but first he still needed a plan just in case something big _did_ happen. Thoughts raced through his mind and various situation outcomes processed through his brain. _Yes . . .this will be _very _easy. _

Derek glided over to the right side of the door, still near the ceiling. Then he drifted up _into_ the ceiling, and he began to make himself drip onto the floor.

After quite awhile of dripping himself onto the floor, someone finally stuck their head out of the cubicle. "Oh, great. Just what we need! Another damn leak, and near the vault of all places!" he said to himself frustratingly. "Hey, Jerry, could ya' go get a bucket and clean up the mess if yer' not to busy?"

"Yeah, sure thing. I'll get right on it," said another man from inside the cubicle, somewhat sarcastically.

The one named Jerry strolled out and made his way down another long corridor. He turned to go another way, but soon came back with a large bucket and a small washcloth. He then looked at the small puddle Derek had slowly created. After wiping him up, the man named Jerry put the bucket under where Derek was still leaking and threw the cloth into the pale. The cloth floated lazily in the bucket, and Derek began to drip himself into it. Soon, he slowly sped up the amount of drips he made into the bucket. It felt like hours, but it probably only could've been ten or so minutes. Finally, when the last of Derek was dripped into the bucket, he slipped some of his watery-self over the edge of the pale. Thankfully, it was big enough to hold him in this form without tipping over.

While he made sure no one was looking, Derek slipped the rest of himself out the bucket and slithered over to the vault door. He had been in a watery state for a long time, and he was still running out of energy, and at an incredible rate. Derek would have to hurry up and finish quickly, so he braced himself and wormed his way under the door. It took a minute or two, but as soon as he got to the other side, he immediately de-liquefied back into human form.

Standing up as he did, Derek slung his bag off his back and opened it. Then, he began to fill it with the many bags of money stored in the vault. At times like these, it was good to have a _demons' bag_; the bag having infinite storage space and all. He could clear the entire bank's cash yield if he wanted to, but he wouldn't need to. _Although...It's not as though leaving some money behind would make me any less wanted . . . When would I have another easy chance? It's not like this is a Grand Bank anyway . . ._

As soon as he had all the bags of money and bars of silver in his own bag, Derek re-liquefied, but with some trouble. The first time he tried, it just wouldn't work . . . He was definitely not going to be able to _cloud_ himself. If he could manage to get to the other side of the door, he would have to stroll out as if he had been there at the bank the whole time. That would _not _be easy. It's not every day you see a person much like Derek. He wore a clothe-mask covering half his face and the eye that you could see was a piercing green; not a lovely color for people to see . . . He also had tall, spiky, blonde hair. Most people found his hair . . .different at times. His clothes looked silken, even expensive, but were now torn up, covering good, sturdy, leather armor . . . Overall, Derek just didn't look like your everyday citizen. He looked more like a mercenary that just came out of a fight. How could he have suddenly appeared from the back of the bank, of all paces. Most people _would_ think something of this.

Just barely squeezing himself under the door once again, Derek made it back to the other side. Staying in liquid form, he quickly slithered past the cubicle, unnoticed . . . He _hoped_ . . .

As soon as he _did_ get past the cubicle, Derek reformed to human. Then, almost out of nowhere, he heard several familiar voices. He backed up against the corridor's wall and slowly made his way down it. Once at the end of the hall, Derek poked his head just around the corner and sure enough, he saw Adam Muse. Everyone was lying on the ground, face to the floor. The guard was in a corner, most obviously dead. The two bank tellers were grabbing money from the drawers in front of them. _Great . . ._

"Would you like some silver bars too, sir?" one teller, they were both women, asked Muse in a whimpering, frantic tone. She seemed to ask him almost politely. Adam didn't say anything. He only watched as the other teller, a young blonde, continued to fill a large, brown bag with tons of rourjas. Derek thought this was quite strange . . .the way he stared at her was, well, just very strange . . .

Derek realized he was still watching and he pulled his head back from around the corner. He slid his back down the wall in frustrated thought and, as he did so, the backing of his armor made a loud squeaking noise against the smooth wall. Derek's eyes opened wide as he looked back around the corner.

"What was that?" Adam shouted commandingly at the two women in front of him. Adam turned to look in Derek's direction, and he _did_ see him. Adam swiftly drew his opal-encrusted hilt form his coat pocket as he started towards Derek, who had now begun to get up. Derek stood up, drawing his own weapon, the Oceanus Blade. It had a cool-blue tint and its shape was that or a roaring ocean, five waves total as the sword's edging. Adam held out his blade as he had only a few days before.

Derek began to notice the blonde woman behind the counter lowering herself down and out of site. "Help us! Please, help!" she screamed, as the other teller began to duck out of view.

"You idiot! Why did you turn your back?" Derek shouted at Adam as though he had known he was there at the bank the whole time. From the side of his vision, Derek saw the man from earlier poke his head out of the cubicle. The man immediately rushed himself back, as he saw Derek, and alerted the others. Derek began to run towards the cubicle, when suddenly he fell face forward. He turned his body and saw that Muse's head was sticking out of the ground, along with his arms which were holding Derek to the ground.

"Doesn't feel to good, does it?" he asked, in his rough-sounding voice. Derek slipped himself away in a watery form, heading down the corridor to the cubicle, his original intention. But, it was already to late. Derek looked up as a deep, screeching noise began to sound. Red lights flashed. Derek got up and ran inside the cubicle. He quickly, but reluctantly, knocked out all of the men inside. He turned around and Adam Muse was right behind him. Just as he turned ha got a hard blow, right to the face. Derek's nose began to bleed. "Stop being an obdurate fool, you . . .you fool!" he yelled as he pinched his nose in slight agony.

Adam swung at Derek again, aiming for his stomach this time. Derek swerved his body to the side and hit Adam in the chest with the butt of his blade. Adam began to cough and wheeze a bit. As Adam stood in place, Derek ran off back down the corridor to the front of the bank.

Derek soon realized, after looking at the bank flooring, that many of the people had fled the bank. He checked for the tellers, but they weren't behind the counter. Upon looking up again, he saw someone run by the window of the bank, closely holding their wide-brimmed hat to their head.

"Why are you here?" Adam asked slowly, holding his hand to his still heavily breathing chest.

Derek turned to look at him. "I was going to ask you the same . . ." he said, smiling slightly.

"That's what you said--"

"Last time?" Derek finished.

"So you are following me then . . .You're a mind-tracker?" Adam asked, stumbling forward. Derek's blow to Adam's chest had been much harder than he realized. He hadn't intended to do so, though.

"A mind-tracker? No, not at all. You _are _very predictable though, you know?. . . Just coincidence that we would meet here again, that's all. And I got here first. My bank. I think I need it more than you," Derek replied calmly.

"Your bank? _Your _bank!? No, I don't think so . . ." Adam thrust his hilt into a nearby person laying on the ground. Blood trickled quickly from their mouth. Adam slowly took the hilt from the person's back, yet their was still no blade.

"Oh, come now! Was that really necessary!?" Derek screamed at him in awe. How dare he try to scare him like that.

"Actually . . .yes." Adam said, a menacing grin on his face.

A loud buzzing noise filled their ears. Derek looked up at the bank window and saw a large crowd of people running by now, most of them covering their ears. Everyone in the bank that was still alive covered their ears, and soon Adam dropped to the ground covering his own. Why wasn't it affecting Derek? The buzzing soon got worse, and Derek recognized what exactly the sound was. "It's the Marinas!" he shouted in Adam's direction. He just stared at Derek, unable to hear anything he was saying. He looked at Derek as though it was his fault.

Derek pulled his summoning chalk out of his bag and wrote on the ground.

_**MARINAS**** COMING. **_

_**NOT MY FAULT. **_

_**BIG DRONE NOISE. **_

_**DANGEROUS!**_

Adam looked at him with a blank stare. "What do you think I am? Stupid?" he screamed at Derek loudly. _**WHAT? **_Derek wrote on the floor.

"I'm not stupid! I know _just_ who is coming and what they are brin--" Adam was cut off by a loud blast. The sound pierced even Derek's ears. Suddenly, the windows of the bank shattered.

Outside, there was no one. Not a single soul. A thud shook the ground and everyone one in the bank trembled. Derek looked up and saw two, rounded, disc-shaped feet outside the bank doors. Two more feet came down behind the others. The humming stopped. Derek looked at Adam. "You realize that . . .as much as neither of us wants to, we're going to have to work together?" Derek spoke slowly to Adam.

"I have just the thing for these giant pests to deal with," Adam said, grimacing slightly. He reached into his coat pocket and fumbled his hand around inside. His face gave way to a shocked expression. "Where did it go?!" he yelled at himself, "It was . . ." he turned to look at Derek. "YOU! You took it! Where is it? Wait . . . You took two! You did, didn't you?"

Derek only smiled back slightly. "I've hidden them somewhere . . .help me, and maybe I'll give them back . . .maybe."

"Well, what am I supposed to use to help us now?" Adam shouted, teeth grinding. "I haven't much energy left . . . What about you? What do _you_ have?"

"Nothing. Nothing that will help at the moment. I'm completely exhausted . . .no thanks to you."

Adam only stared back blankly. He didn't know what to say or do. Adam didn't like to deal with people. Social skills were low on his part. He was surprised at himself that he was even talking to this complete stranger. It wasn't as though they had _just_ met; they had fought. And for some reason, he hadn't fought very well, while this stranger had defeated him quickly and somewhat stealthily.

"Well, then . . . What about the portal you used?" Derek asked.

Adam looked down. I'll have to charge for it. So, you might have to fight someone for a bit," Adam said, a reluctant grin on his face. Why had he smiled so?

"Fine. Tell me when you're rea--" Derek was interrupted by a loud bang. He looked outside and the feet of the large, unseen creatures were pounding on the ground once more. Just as fast as they started, they stopped again. Two people from each creature jumped off. One looked very familiar to Derek. It was Captain Cyurby! The dark-skinned man turned to the five other Marinas and started to give out commands. Derek couldn't hear them, and he was turned around, so he couldn't read the captain's lips.

Derek looked at Adam, who was rubbing his hands together slowly. The tips of his fingers, which were originally very pale, were beginning to blacken. Derek looked back to the people around him. _Should I take a hostage? No. That'd just be more on my oh-so-perfect record. Yeah right . . . Then what _should _I do? _He didn't need to think now. Something was already happening.

Cyurby stood back as his five Marina Officers advanced towards the bank building, small oval-shaped weapons held in hand. The Marinas were a sort of military branch in the government. To Derek though, they were more like secret police. They didn't truly follow all the rules and regulations they were specifically given to follow. They saw themselves almost as a high-experience vigilante organization. The government funded them, yet they did what they wanted.

The oval-shaped weapons they held were actually illegal. 'Machina' is what it was called to most. Simply put, bad machinery. Not in the sense that it didn't work, but bad in the sense that it could easily kill.

One Marina came forward, a bit faster than the others. She shattered what remained of the glass window with her weapon. Her green-colored coat swayed with each step she took. Derek saw the large weapon in their hand. It was ovular and had a metallic purple color. A big yellow circle was present in the center. _When did they issue stunners? _The Marina stopped a few yards from Derek and the other four soon stood behind her.

"You four take him," she said to the others, pointing at Adam with her stunner. "I'll get Deveraux myself. It'll be a pleasure."

"More people with issues . . .with me . . .great," Derek grunted, standing up as straight as he could. He turned slightly in Adam's direction. Adam's hands were completely black now.

Adam saw Derek look in his direction. "Sorry. Only about over half way done here. Obviously not good."

The four blue-coated Marinas ran at Adam, guns all poised forward. "And with these guys, I'm sure this will take even longer!" he yelled running towards the back of the bank. All Adam could really do was make time and hope that they wouldn't catch up. He'd have to divert them all somehow.

The green coated Marina rushed at Derek as the others had to Adam. She pulled the trigger on her gun and out shot a long, steel-fibered rope. At its tip was a small, three-fingered claw object. Derek inhaled deeply, touched his metal arm slightly, and he shot out a jet of water towards the claw. The water hit the claw and it was sent spiraling back towards the green-coated woman.

Adam ran through the hallways. The bank's corridors felt so long to him. He hadn't been in this bad of a situation in awhile. He was about to aid a complete stranger, four red coats were chasing him through a bank that wasn't even that high standard, and he wasn't able to fight back.

He pulled up his sleeves and saw that both his forearms were completely black now. That was good enough to him. Adam quickly turned around and ran towards the direction of the four that were chasing him. Only one was in sight. _Perhaps a trap?_ He was right. As soon as he neared, two more red coats sprang into view and he skidded to a halt. He drew his hilt. The air around him felt strange. Adam quickly slashed around and the fourth Marina fell to the floor. He picked up the purple stunner, turned around, and aimed it at the Marina in the middle. He pulled the trigger and out shot the claw. It latched onto its target and a paralyzing bolt of electricity surged through the Marina's body. He fell to the floor and twitched silently. The other two Marinas lifted up their guns, but Adam was too fast. He slashed through both their bodies. No mark was left on their chests, yet blood trickled from their mouths as they fell to the floor.

Derek drew his blue steel blade. He pointed at his foe, who lay on the ground. _Another familiar face?_ "Look at me!" he yelled at her. She looked up. Her lips trembled slightly. She was defenseless. Her weapon was only a few feet away, but still out of reach. "I said look at me!" Derek screamed again. She looked up. Her eyes met his. "Cassandra?" Derek questioned her.

Adam jumped towards Derek, stunner gun strapped to his back. Adam's hands were stretched out towards him. Just as they touched, Adam and Derek disappeared into an unseen world.

The green coated woman stood up. She turned around and Captain Cyurby stepped forward. "I'm demoting you," he said sourly.

"Yes sir . . ." He didn't even look at her. He simply walked past her into the hall to inspect the four that had just died.

Seth Fuhrmann


	4. Chapter3: 'Tis A Dark World

_**E K L I P Z**_25

**Chapter III 'Tis a Dark World**

Derek fell to the ground as Adam pounced on him. He felt a tingling sensation run down his back and into his arms and legs. He felt dizzy as he hit the ground. Adam ran off extremely fast, when Derek looked up. Adam was only a big, black blur to him now. Derek waited a minute so that his eyes could adjust. He needed to take in his surroundings.

The area around him was very much like the land he had seen in Adam's portal just a couple days before. There were scarcely any trees in the large meadow, and big, round rocks dotted the place. Mountains filled the horizon, every which way you looked. Everything seemed to be in black and white. Derek was bewildered at first. Then he realized just where he was. Legends of old told of this place. It had many names: The Shadow Realm, The Nether Realm, The Dark World, Golth's Heart, and many others.

Derek didn't know what to think at first. He slowly got up. He checked his large studded belt for his sword hilt. It was still there. Having it made him feel just a bit safer. He didn't know what to expect in a place as strange as this. Derek walked a few steps forward. He saw a huge tree in the middle of the plain. It was surrounded by huge boulders, much bigger than any of the other boulders on the plain. The tree seemed strange to him, even from so far away. It was like nothing he had seen in the normal world. He had the feeling that is was . . .well

. . .like it was calling to him. He felt he had to investigate it; not just simply see it.

Derek began to walk towards the strange tree, fascinated with it the more he got closer. He soon got to the place where it stood, and so he started to climb the rocks. Upon climbing to the top of one boulder, he realized it was much larger than he had thought.

Derek then looked down. A greenish water filled the few feet between the boulders and the tree. It didn't make sense to him. He remembered seeing small spaces between the boulders, even from far away. How was the water able to stay where it was?

He looked up for a split second. This was a strange world. How long would he be here? By this time, he was so infatuated with everything around him that he forgot that it was Adam who brought him here in the first place. Derek looked back down, into the water. He saw a strange reflection, and then it happened.

A black-coated, panther-like man jumped down on him. Snarling in his face, spit flying out its mouth, it grabbed Derek and pushed him hard. Derek slipped on the rock, falling backwards, into the water.

"That was much easier than I thought it would be!" Adam chuckled to himself. Adam turned around and hopped off where he was perched. He then took his notebook out of his coat pocket.

"Let's see then . . .Have I been here?" he asked himself silently. He didn't usually talk to himself. Opening the notebook, he held his hand over the pages and closed his eyes. He opened them and several pictures appeared in the book before him.

_Oh well then, might as well walk around a bit before Derek is done. Hopefully he won't take too long. From his character though, I don't imagine he will. Alas, I've been wrong before. _

Adam briskly walked in one direction. He didn't truly know where he was going, but he had obviously been here before. And, Adam didn't suspect any danger; it had been a long time since anything _bad_ had happened to him in the shadow realm.

The ground shook beneath his feet, but only momentarily. In haste, he pressed the small orb in the center of his band-shaped armor, and golden-plated armor closed over the front and back of his body. Plated shin guards wrapped themselves around his legs and knees. Gauntlets covered his arms, spiked shoulder pads launched themselves up from his back and onto where they belonged. Adam drew his hilt as the ground around him began to shake even more wildly. _Please not something big! _Shining black walls jettisoned up from the ground, leaving the area around them unaffected.

"Oh, Golth! Not The Labyrinth!"

Rising up out of the water, Derek found himself in front of a large, castle-looking structure. One big, grey tower rose up into the sky. Three smaller, green towers circled around the bigger one. Each of the smaller towers was connected by a hallway-like structure, which formed a ring around the big tower. The towers were all inside a dome-shaped structure, in which Derek was also in. His first impulse was to go inside the tower. Like the tree, Derek felt like it was calling to him. It wanted him to go inside. But, he didn't know what was awaiting him on the inside. Some foul beast? Adam? Was this some sort of test? Was Adam simply toying with him, messing with his mind, using the art of shadows to play with him?

Derek dove down, back into the water. He swam down, down, farther and farther. He probably swam downwards for at least a good half-hour. It didn't matter to him. He had no need to hold his breath. It got much darker the further he went down. Soon, there was no light at all.

After another half-hour or so, Derek finally felt something beneath himself. He pressed down with his hands, and he felt hard, slimy stone. Derek swam around a bit more, looking for any holes, cracks, or crevices that he would be able to get through somehow. He found nothing but the slimy stone under him. Derek pushed himself against the hard slab, and jettisoned himself upward. Swimming speedily up, he was out of the water again in no time. He had to ask himself, _How am I going to get out of here?_

Pulling his wet self out of the water drudgingly, he was still tired. He didn't bother getting all the water off of his body. It would've been a waste of energy. Derek walked towards the huge tower. It had no door, from where he stood at least. Then, he paced around the perimeter of the tower. Looking up, Derek saw that it was so much taller than he had realized.

Continuing onward, he found two, huge, wooden doors. They were barred with a metal pole of sorts. Derek grabbed the pole with his hands and pulled back as hard as he could. It wouldn't budge. Pressing one foot against a door, he pulled again. It budged a bit forward, but only slightly. "Okay, let's try this again," Derek grumbled to himself. Putting both of his feet against the door, he pulled with all the strength that was left in him. The door didn't move at all this time.

"Open!" Derek shouted. The doors flew open, sending him backwards, sprawling onto the floor. Green water came rushing out of the doors. the water swept around him, then suddenly and swiftly carried him into the tower. The doors shut behind Derek, all on their own, and he heard the metal pole swing back down into position. Once again, he was trapped. Derek picked himself up off the ground. He turned to study the room he was in. Large blocks of ice laid on the floor, icicles hung from the ceiling, and strange deposits of various gems and minerals filled the cracks and nooks in the four walls of the room. One, huge, hole-dotted, metal plate was on each wall. Derek soon realized what was happening. Water was slowly pouring out of the holes in the plates.

As if Derek knowing this was happening triggered the trap, clear water gushed out of the plates, nearly blowing them off in fact. The water filled the room within a few moments. As it touched his body, Derek felt completely rejuvenated.

Adam was quite worried. He tried to conjure a small shadow sphere in his hands, but somehow . . .he couldn't. He took his hilt and tried to make its shadowy blade appear, but again . . .nothing happened. He stood still for a minute. _I knew the Labyrinth was a bad place, but I didn't realize that I cant even use alchemy! _A white shadow glided past him on the wall, but he took no notice.

Squatting down, Adam thrust himself up into the air. Two, giant, black, raven wings spread from his back. He soared into the air, thinking that he might be able to pass over the walls of the Labyrinth. As he flew higher, the walls seemed to stretch up with him. The air became foggy. Adam soared higher. He was probably several hundred feet up into the air now. The Labyrinth's walls followed him up as Adam ascended.

Suddenly, he felt dizzy. A shiver crept through his spine and neck as he began to fall. He had no feeling in his body. Adam closed his eyes as he saw the walls racing up, only . . .they weren't moving.

Derek opened what he thought was the final door. But, it wasn't. In this new, rounded room, there was a strange, conical hut. It had a single, metal door. There was no handle, only a small key hole. Derek felt around the insides of his pockets. Somehow, he knew a key would be there. But, there was no key. He was puzzled for a moment. A key hole. No key. His first thought was that it would be hidden somewhere in the room, or that it was a riddle. His first guess was right. As he opened his mouth to speak aloud to himself, a tiny bronze-colored fell to the ground.

Derek picked up the key. It was a bit wet. It had been inside his mouth after all. But, why would he have not felt it? He didn't care, he just wanted to open the door. So, he did. A great, bright light blazed in the room for a split second. It was worse than looking into the _sonn_.

Derek was now outside, in front of his tree. He was laying on the rock he had been pushed off of. He had completely forgotten about earlier until now. Derek quickly got up and started running. He, again, didn't know where he was taking himself. He was just following his instincts, which were suddenly fine-tuned.

Derek's senses also seemed better to him. He heard a faint buzzing which began to grow louder. It wasn't unlike that of the huge creatures the Marinas used. That wasn't a good thing. Derek started to run towards the sound. He came to the top of a hill. Then, he realized that this hill was the summit of a cliff. It looked out to a huge maze-like structure. Hundreds upon thousands of giant insects were flying above the maze structure. They looked so small from where he was, but somehow he could tell that they were at least human in size.

Adam looked up. He could barely breathe. That amazingly high fall should have killed him, but somehow it didn't. He retracted his wings back into his body. As they slid back into his body, closing next to his spine, he felt that they were probably broken. And, he still couldn't move.

Adam was beginning to hear the same faint buzzing that Derek was hearing, only it was growing much louder _much _faster. Briefly, five huge insects flew over head. Adam could only see their outline, but he knew they were big, and most likely very ugly. He had dealt with these creatures in the past, but he wouldn't be able to fight against a huge swarm in his current state. He really wouldn't be able to fight at all in this current state!

Adam tried to move once more. It wasn't easy, but after five minutes or so, he was able to get up. Those five minutes of excruciating pain felt more like five hours to him. Adam tried to walk but he just couldn't, so he only squatted on the ground, giving himself a break.

He started to think back to when he was little. His mother had told him all sorts of things about the mysterious 'Dark World' she told him he'd soon visit one day.

This maze is called Golth's Labyrinia. Golth is the Olldreic God of inanimate creation. Before he could get started as the god of inanimate creation, the rest of the gods told him that he was no longer needed, because the humans could create for themselves.

After that, he went to hide in the depths of the universe. Golth soon created both the light and shadow realms. He first made the light realm as an experiment, after all, it was his first try. Though he was a god, he hadn't been able to fully use his godly-abilities.

Golth destroyed and rebuilt the light realm several times, until he found that it was perfect.

Afterwards, he spent most of his time exploring his self-created world's beauty. Soon, his hate for the gods grew more and more. Golth grew angry and plotted against the gods. But before he tried to do anything, he would need a place to keep them all; somewhere that only he would know. He did not want to ruin his perfect world of light, so he created the shadow realm, with the help of Gremm, god of death, and Chaosos, the god of all chaos and turmoil. These two gods had to help him in secret, for they also despised the other gods and wanted to get rid of them all as well. Golth's plan did not work at all. In fact, it almost completely backfired on him. Gremm and Chaosos were never found out by the other gods, but Golth was condemned to his own horrid little world by all of the gods. Being a god, he would live forever, living in his own self-pity every long day that passed on his world.

Humans learned of a way to get into both realms, and so Golth needed a way not to be seen (gods are not allowed to be seen by mortals, unless given permission). So, he created a giant Labyrinth, enveloping a fourth of the shadow realm. The first human ever to walk into the labyrinth immediately found Golth asleep. A human had never seen this god before and so he woke him up, thinking it was just another strange creature home to this even stranger new world. Golth told the human what had happened to him as a god, and he passed on his every knowledge of the shadow realm, even how to create another one. Golth hid himself underground in the very middle of the labyrinth and has never since been disturbed. Adam's mother had been in that labyrinth before, she fell asleep, just like her great ancestor. When she awoke, she was no longer in the labyrinth.

Adam hoped the same would happen to him, but he wished not to go to sleep with that buzzing noise getting louder and louder by the minute. He knew he'd have to deal with a few of the giant pests at some point.

Having rested a few minutes, Adam slowly got up and started to walk around. It was very painful, but it was pain he could deal with, . . ._for now_.

Adam thought he was starting to hallucinate for a minute. He thought he saw a person-shaped shadow flicker by him. He turned for a quick second to look around himself.

And there stood the silhouette of a strange figure. Adam immediately knew who, or perhaps _what _it was.

The figure stood just as still as Adam was. It slowly backed away. Suddenly, it turned completely and took off. Adam gave chase as fast as he could, but it was truly no use. The strange figure turned corners much faster than the tired Adam could.

Without notice, the Labyrinth walls came crashing down, still leaving no trace of damage on the ground. Just as abruptly as the walls had come down, they began to spring up again, one carrying Adam straight up.

As he speedily shot higher into the air, Adam saw the huge swarm of insects that was buzzing around. They were headed straight in his direction.

In the middle of this huge swarm, Adam knew that something very strange was going on. Just as he realized this, a white-winged, feathery Derek came exploding out of the swarm, throwing an insect to the ground. His head was replaced with that of a bird's. His beak shined gold, while his white plumage seemed almost silvery. His arms were an orange-bronze color, his fingers replaced with sharp, gleaming talons.

To anyone else, this creature would not have been easily recognized as Derek, but Adam knew. He was certainly glad that he had pushed Derek into the tree-waters.

The bird-Derek swooped over Adam, grabbing him with his now talon arms. Derek was fast--much faster than the swarm behind them--but that didn't mean they were out of danger.

A few insect creatures broke off from the swarm that had ceased following them. "Derek! Listen to me!" Adam shouted. They were going fast enough now that it was hard to hear over the rush of wind. Derek's wings flapped only every few minutes. He was already getting used to them.

"Yes. I can hear you, I'm listening." Derek shouted back to him. His voice was a bit higher now. It must have had something to do with his new head.

"You need to take us back in the other direction! We need to be somewhat close to where we first came here!"

"But what about the Marinas?" Derek responded.

"We just need to be in that general area. It would be a good idea to get some distance, but my alchemy won't work near the Labyrinth anyways!" Adam shouted back up to him.

Derek made a sharp swoop and turned around. He was now heading towards their followers. As they neared an insect creature, Adam realized that they were more human like than the ones he had encountered before. Their faces were even very human, overlooking the huge mandibles sticking out of their mouths that was.

Approaching them still, Derek shouted, "What do you suppose we do about them? My arms are kinda full, seeing as I'm carrying you n' all!"

"Ignore them! If they come too close, swat them with your legs. Descend to the ground whenever you feel you can!"

"It's not as though I've practiced landing before!" was all Derek could say. He smiled the best beaky smile he could muster.

Adam remembered his first transformation. It did not go too well, but it didn't matter now.

Just as Adam was finished remembering his younger years, an insect swooped by them. It only swooped near them. "Most likely a warning," Derek shouted to Adam.

"How would you know? Is this place not new to you suddenly?" Adam yelled back.

"Animals. Bugs. Creepy-crawlies. Their behavior is all very interesting to me! Just because you're an 'expert' on this world, it doesn't suddenly make me stupid."

"A simple explanation would've sufficed."

"I'm going to try to land now. How should I do this?"

"Use your wings to push the air down around you...then..."

Derek was already beginning to land. His wings flapped more softly now, until his feet just touched the ground. Just as Derek was completely on the ground, his wings shot back into his spine. His plumage fell off. His beak shrunk into a mouth. The rest of his body quickly turned back to normal. His clothes were in shreds.

"I'd like to see your other forms," a panther-man said to Derek, who was now on the ground, mottled with pain.

Derek looked up. Adam wasn't around. The creature in front of him _was_ Adam. "It was you that pushed me in the water, wasn't it, Adam?" Derek questioned demandingly before falling even lower to the ground in pain. His normal mouth began to extend again, now into a snout-like shape. Small hairs on his arms became perfectly straight, growing longer and thicker, until he was covered in fur.

The bottom of his spine extended, bone ripping through his flesh and out into the open air. The bony tail grew muscle, skin, and soon its own fur. It was now very bushy, and a bit scraggly too. Derek's furry fingers became a tad shorter, sharp, black claws extending from them.

His legs took a new shape. His thigh muscles grew stronger, his shins grew skinnier, and his feet bended towards the ground abnormally.

His snout grew short whiskers, and a triangular black nose. The teeth in his mouth grew sharper, his tongue grew longer. Derek's ears extended slightly, shifting towards to top of his head. His sense of sight, sound, smell, and even taste sharpened incredibly.

All of this had happened in only a matter of a minute or so. His clothes were now ripped and torn. The new feelings Derek's body was experiencing were of course all too strange to him.

"Are you ready to give your new body a try?" Adam asked. "My first time wasn't _too _bad."

"Why is this happening?" Derek barked, almost literally, at Adam. "I didn't care about becoming an avian-man. But, this is torture! Why does this hurt so much compared to earlier?! Damn it! I want some answers!"

"This is all part of the dark world. It's just what happens to humans here, that's all. In fact, had you not completed your tasks in the soul-tower, you would have surely died. Like I said: It's all part of this world. So, you'd better get used to it if you ever want to come here again."

"Alright," Derek said in agony, "but what about the pain?"

"It's different for everyone. Not just the pain, but the transformations you'll go through today. You actually have one more form you haven't seen yet."

"And when will this happen?" Derek continued to interrogate.

"I'm not one to talk a lot, but since this is all happening somewhat quickly for you, I'll explain as much as I'd like to.

The tower you went through . . ." Derek looked as though he was about to say something, but Adam continued. "Well, like I said, had you not gone through your trials, you would have died. If your tower was like mine, the water was extremely deep, and its bottom had no opening. You would have starved. By passing the trials, you proved to several of the gods that you are capable of handling yourself in this world."

"So, what about this third form you keep telling me about, but have said nothing of?"

"Yes," Adam answered, "I was getting to that. You have a form for land, air, and water. This world is much like ours, aside from it having almost no humans, and almost no color, so you'll need all three of those forms to survive.

These three forms are all based on creatures from millions and millions of years ago. You'll have to figure out your special skills on your own, because I really have no idea what it is that you are.

As I said earlier, everyone's forms are different, so I don't know what your next form will look like. My grandfather speculated that everyone's forms had something to do with personality, but in my experience I'd say that some people get lucky."

"So, . . .you've taken others here as well?" Derek questioned. This was not something Derek would have thought possible.

"No. You're the first _I've_ taken here," Adam answered swiftly. Derek didn't think he had taken anyone else. It didn't seem like Adam, though Derek hardly knew him. "Someone had to train me, you know. It's not as though I was born with alchemic prowess."

"I'd hardly consider any of this alchemic. The control over shadow, I would, but not all of this!"

"Well Derek, you can't know everything. There are many things I've yet to discover here. I'll tell you more about this later, get up. And, speaking of alchemy, I'd like what you owe me now!"

Derek pulled his backpack off his shoulder and opened it. Violently digging through its contents, he finally found the two vials he had stolen. Adam tried to snatch them out of his hands, but Derek quickly pulled them back.

"Answer me a few more questions, then I assure you that you'll get them back." Derek said with a smirk on his face.

"Fine. What do you want to know?" Adam said hesitantly.

"What are these for anyway, and what do these labels mean? The '1-B-1' and the 'G-4-2-W'?"

"Those are vials contain the essence of my shadow alchemy. It's none of your concern how I use them, though. '1-B-1' stands for One Big One, and you'll eventually know what that means.

'G-4-2-W' stands for Good For Two Weeks. It's in case I can't perform my alchemy for some reason. It would've helped me a lot in the labyrinth, if I had it. Derek grinned.

"I want you to take this mirror. If you are in the dark world and I'm not around and you need to get back to the normal world, just take the cover off and look directly into it. Once you use it though, it will only work for you." Adam handed Derek a circular object, most obviously the mirror, in a velvet black pouch. Its opening was laced with dark-red strings.

"So, what now?" asked Derek. He was starting to become impatient. All this new information was processing through his head at a high pace. He wanted to do something, not just sit around.

"Back to the normal world now, I guess." And with that, Adam grabbed Derek's shoulders. He warped them into the normal world, far off from the town they were in earlier.

Just as Adam and Derek 'landed' in the mid-realm, they heard a scream. They both turned to their left, seeing a lanky girl staring and pointing in their direction.

"Demons! Demons in the forest!" she screamed wildly, waving her hands about. The girl clapped her hands and snapped her fingers, running off while hundreds of vines sprang out of the ground. The vines moved like snakes towards Adam and Derek. Before they could even move, the vines lashed out at them, circling around the two of them and a nearby tree.

The both of them were wrapped up against the tree, the vines becoming tighter as they tried to get free. Derek could still barely see the girl running off in the distance. "How did she know?" Derek asked himself out loud.

"What are you talking about?" Adam wheezed.

"Never mind, just stop moving and we'll be fine!"

The two men stayed as still as they possibly could. As they did, the vines didn't tighten, but they didn't loosen either.

"What now?" Adam asked.

"That's funny. I remember I was the one saying that a minute ago. We're just gonna have to sit here for a bit. Can you reach your hilt thing?"

Adam tried to grab his hilt, but it was out of reach. "Even if I could reach it," Adam said, "it wouldn't do us much good. It only cuts internally."

"Interesting . . . Well, we're just going to have to wait a bit and hope that these things come off . . ."

Again, the two of them sat as still against the tree as they could. It soon became uncomfortable for the both of them in more ways than one. The bark from the tree was rubbing against their backs, which wasn't too bad for Adam. He had clothes that weren't torn like Derek's were. Derek didn't know it, but Adam was a bit claustrophobic, though he would never say anything about it.

"Well," Adam paused momentarily, "Any thoughts?"

"I told you, we should just wait. I'm sure that if we wait, the vines will slip off. That girl has to be out of range soon. I assume the vines will come off when she gets far enough away from us.

They continued to wait for quite some time. "Hey, I see someone!" Derek yelled in Adam's face. A couple dozen yards from the two, someone was walking in their direction. "Hey! You there! Come over and help us!" Derek yelled in the person's direction, moving around as he did causing the vines to tighten around them.

"Derek, stop! You . . ." Adam put his head down as the person neared them. It was a mere boy. He could have only been twelve or thirteen.

Derek continued to yell at the boy for help, but he only walked past them. It seemed he didn't even notice them. "Hey, are you deaf?" Derek yelled. "Help us out here!"

The boy stopped where he was, a half-dozen feet from them. He nonchalantly walked backwards to their spot. Adam put his head lower and tried to look in the opposite direction. The boy punched Derek's jaw, making a loud crack.

"Adam?" the boy questioned. "Why, yes, I do believe it _is_ you!" he chuckled to himself. "You _do_ remember me, don't you?"

"Of course I remember you, you bastard! You burned half of my family's house, along with _my_ map!" Adam snapped at him.

"No no, I only burned a part of your map," the boy chuckled. "the rest is here with me," he said, pulling a large rolled up scroll. He unraveled it and positioned it so that Adam could better see it. Derek saw that there was absolutely nothing written or drawn on the scroll. It was completely blank.

"Are you crazy, er' something?" Derek blabbed out, trying to sound as stupid as possible. The boy punched him again, only in the cheek and much harder now. Derek's cheek began to slightly bleed; the boy had cut his cheek.

"It's not blank, you imbecile! _You _just can't see it," the boy said, not even looking at him.

"Stay with this guy, Adam. I'm sure he'll aide in your self-destruction. Well . . .I'd like very much to stay and chat some more, but I really must be getting on my way," the boy said. He took out a hilt, to Derek's surprise, much like Adam's.

Adam looked up at the boy, and Derek saw a hint of fear in his eyes. "Vincent!" Adam screamed, before the hilt was thrust towards his chest. The hilt never even touched Adam, but his head lolled down and his mouth began to ooze forth blood.

"I'll leave you to die of starvation. It just seems like a good way for you to die," Vincent chuckled. "Perhaps the vollfs will get you when the moon comes up." And with that, he walked off.

Derek was speechless. He sat motionless for a few seconds. The vines that bound him and the now-motionless Adam fell off. Derek quickly grabbed his backpack and propped Adam upright against the tree. Once he had Adam against the tree, Derek began to rummage through his bottomless bag. He pulled out a syringe and pushed down on its end until a smooth green liquid just barley dripped out of its needle tip.

Derek put his left hand against Adam's right shoulder and readied himself to stick the needle in his heart.

Suddenly, someone grabbed Derek's shoulder. He twisted around, aiming the needle at this new stranger. The area was so bright around him. Derek couldn't see a thing.

Seth Fuhrmann


End file.
